No. 5 Kansas handles UAB in CBE Hall of Fame Classic

Kansas overcame a sluggish night offensively and a strong effort from Georgia’s Yante Maten as the fifth-ranked Jayhawks defeated the Bulldogs 65-54 in the championship of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic at Sprint Center.

The Wildcats opened the second half on a 10-1 run to go up by 17 points and the Longhorns (3-1) were never closer than 14 points the rest of the way. The Detroit native hit 12 of 15 shots. William Jackson was the next highest scorer with seven points. A 9-0 run, highlighted by a pair of 3-pointers from sophomore guard Turtle Jackson, sliced the Kansas lead to 57-49 with 4:51 to go.

There is still plenty of time, of course, and the Jayhawks are just five games into the season.

The teams resumed trading runs early in the second half before the Jayhawks began pulling, and four 3-pointers by Svi Mykhailiuk – who finished with 15 points – helped put the game out of reach.

On Monday night against UAB, he both showed why and cordially-yet loudly-introduced himself to the uninitiated. The first time, he zipped an overhead pass to Lagerald Vick, who airballed a three. Georgia out-rebounded Kansas and matched them in nearly every other way, they just couldn’t make shots. Devonté Graham, who entered 3 of 15, hit four in nine attempts.

UAB’s first field goal of the contest came at the 10-minute mark of the first half on a layup by Chris Cokley.

It only takes one team – one gimmicky style, one bad matchup – to end a run in the most unforgiving tournament, and Kansas fans don’t need to be reminded of examples where talented teams have stumbled with a fatal flaw.

A steal by Graham turned into a transition layup from Mykhailiuk that was goaltended – ending almost a five-minute KU scoring drought at the 5:17 mark of the first half.

Like the Dawgs, the Jayhawks come in to tonight with a 3-1 record. KU then gets a break during finals week, taking several days off before tangling with Davidson on December 17 in Sprint Center.

Kansas was a bit more efficient from the perimeter, slowly drawing away after trailing 20-19 with about 8 minutes to go, to forge a 35-25 lead at the break. In KU’s 86-65 victory against Siena, Nov. 18, Jackson scored 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting with three assists and two blocked shots.

LAHAINA, Hawaii – Rodney Pryor had 26 points and 10 rebounds, and Georgetown withstood a furious second-half rally to hold on for a 65-61 victory over No. 13 OR on Monday in the first round of the Maui Invitational. But instead of getting better from that opening act, Lucas and Bragg have seemed to go backwards since the start of the regular season, with foul trouble, new roles and an identity crisis on offense causing a different set of challenges each night out. In fact, Self estimated his team had practiced zone looks in practice for no more than 10 minutes before adjusting to that alignment against Georgia. Arnaldo Toro grabbed four of those caroms on the offensive end with seven points and five total boards in his 18 minutes of play.

The Jayhawks just finished competing in their third CBE Hall of Fame Classic and first since winning the 2012 event.